World trembles in confusion and/or fear at Iran’s fiberglass airplane

Iran recently took the wraps off its Qaher-313 "new super modern fighter plane," seen here nose-on. The quality of the aircraft shown in these pictures is leading some observers to wonder if Iran is playing a joke on the rest of the world. This plane is almost certainly a mock-up, because if it's not—well, look, I can only assume that the country employs at least one aerospace engineer, right? This has to be a joke, right?

Iran recently took the wraps off its Qaher-313 "new super modern fighter plane," seen here nose-on. The quality of the aircraft shown in these pictures is leading some observers to wonder if Iran is playing a joke on the rest of the world. This plane is almost certainly a mock-up, because if it's not—well, look, I can only assume that the country employs at least one aerospace engineer, right? This has to be a joke, right?

The aircraft's skin is remarkably shiny and irregular. Stealth aircraft derive no small degree of their stealthiness from a coating of radar-absorbent material; the skin of a modern stealth aircraft requires constant maintenance and upkeep, with ground crews having to pay attention to the height of individual screws in the aircraft's skin and apply putty to irregularities. The -313's finish is amateurish at best.

It's uncertain what type of powerplant lurks within the -313 (if indeed there is one), but its intakes appear to be too small to realistically support anything substantial. Also visible from this angle, again, is the shiny, bumpy surface.

The -313 features both canards and droop-tipped wings, possibly borrowing characteristics from the B-70 Valkyrie and the Bird of Prey technology demonstrator. Or maybe they just thought it looked cool.

The large protective cap over the engine makes it impossible to judge for certain, but there appears to be no engine nozzle at all. It's doubtful this demonstrator/prototype/mock-up has a powerplant. Others have noted that a jet with an engine this recessed would likely catch on fire and melt. Or explode. Or both!

More details on the -313's underside. An aircraft's radar cross-section is more than anything a function of its shape (but not so much, as common sense would have you believe, its size). Right angles reflect radar waves back at the sender, and non-right angles tend to bounce them off in other directions, so early stealth designs like the F-117A used faceted shapes to confound radar. Computing a radar cross-section involves a hell of a lot of math, and computers in the mid-1970s just weren't that fast. Modern stealth aircraft incorporate curves because modern computers are fast and can perform far more complex RCS calculations than were feasible in the early days of stealth. The -313 employs facets—though its skin is janky enough to make much of the stealth math moot.

The -313's canopy has ludicrously bad optical qualities—note the scratches and distortion. Additionally, several sources note that the nose is far too tiny to contain anything like a useful radar.

With a pilot seated in the cockpit, the front of the plane appears to be rather tiny. Fighter aircraft cockpits are notoriously small, leading to the common phrase among fighter jocks of "strapping on" the aircraft, but there's a difference between "small" and "comical," and the -313 is definitely erring on the wrong side of that line.

The cockpit boasts instrumentation plucked directly from civilian aviation and appears to lack a heads-up display. It also appears to be made of fiberglass. I showed this picture to Science Editor Dr. John Timmer, who knows a thing or two about how science works, and after a moment of silence he responded by saying, "No f------ way."

Just in case the previous picture wasn't clear enough.

“This new fighter jet is a bomberand [sic] it is fully engineered by Iranian scientists and has exceptional features,” Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is quoted as saying. "This fighter is one of the most sophisticated fighter jets in the world, and we just talk [sic] to its test pilot, and he expressed great satisfaction for the flight performance as a professional pilot.”

....so, there's that, at least.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stands with Iran's military leaders, reading what I can only assume to be the plane's instruction manual. Judging by the quality of its construction, I'd guess he's looking for where the rubber band goes.

"The advance computer designing software (CATIA) were used for designing F-313, and aerodynamic analysis methods such as computational fluid dynamics (CFD) also were used, with the help of numerical grid generation software (GAMBIT), flow analysis software (FLUENT), and other design computation software, which shows a complete scientific work in various areas of indigenous scientific and technology was used for F-313," notes news outlet Mehr News, indicating that at some point some actual science was involved with the aircraft's design.

The Boeing-built "Bird of Prey" technology demonstrator, which shares some visual design cues with the -313—though it should be noted that there's photographic evidence of Bird of Prey actually flying. Unlike the -313.

This is a B-2 stealth bomber, an actual airplane that actually flies in the air. Its radar-absorbant skin is actually radar-absorbant and doesn't look like it has much in common with the photographs of the -313 that have been made available. Note that the B-2 benefited from far more computer-aided design than its older cousin the F-117A, and its design is quite curvy.

And this is an F-22, another actual for-real stealth aircraft with an actual engine that actual people have gotten inside of and flown around in the sky. The differences are obvious; the F-22 also incorporates a number of discernible features along its body—speed brakes, servicing ports, and so on—unlike the oddly textured -313, which lacks any kind of ports or holes or other things real airplanes need.

Considering how the US doesn't really publish pictures of (or show people in general) the newest stealth stuff we have, I would be surprised to see closeup pictures of a new jet Iran or any other country built... would think that is something they would want as a tactical advantage if it really worked well...

Only a mock up? But... surely they wouldn't try tricking the world like this... I mean, it says danger all over the plane in paint!

They don't have the money to make things like this. Hell, they have to sell so much of their oil that they don't have enough left for themselves for their own power needs. Anyone who actually believes Iran has a stealth craft must also buy that the US is not in financial trouble and unemployment in the US is low. If they really had one they'd show it in action. They flaunt it by buzzing near by US warships. They are hoping this scares Israel enough to keep them from striking them. If Iran would stop making threats and play nice with her neighbors it wouldn't have much to worry about.

Edit: Just to make things clear. Israel isn't the only nation in the region that fears Iran and views their leadership and dangerous. More than just a few Arab nations do not want to see a nuclear armed Iran and welcome a military strike.

It's possible that the target audience is internal- Iran's growing population of poorly educated and radicalized youth will likely soak this up without much critical assessment.

This was exactly my thought as well. They know US and Israeli governments will see right through this charade. But put some grainy photographs in Iranian newspapers and it may help the general populace feel more at ease that their government can take on Israel and keep them safe.

Considering how the US doesn't really publish pictures of (or show people in general) the newest stealth stuff we have, I would be surprised to see closeup pictures of a new jet Iran or any other country built... would think that is something they would want as a tactical advantage if it really worked well...

As a nuclear professional, this makes me feel significantly better about the prospects of their atomic weapons program.

Nuclear is much easier than stealth aircraft.

Depends on how big of a bang you are trying to get and how much enriched material you have to work with. The North Koreans likely managed a couple of kilotons at most with their first tests and the Iranians haven't actually tested a device yet. If they deploy one without testing, it is likely to be much weaker than they plan; if they test one before deployment, it will give the West time to... uh... prevent further development.

This reminds me of the DuckTales episode where the nephews are put in charge of Scrooge's businesses for a day, and design a car. It gets put on the show room, and the first potential customer says "it looks like it was designed by a kid!" And the salesperson replies "Would you believe three?"

Only a mock up? But... surely they wouldn't try tricking the world like this... I mean, it says danger all over the plane in paint!

They don't have the money to make things like this. Hell, they have to sell so much of their oil that they don't have enough left for themselves for their own power needs. Anyone who actually believes Iran has a stealth craft must also buy that the US is not in financial trouble and unemployment in the US is low. If they really had one they'd show it in action. They flaunt it by buzzing near by US warships. They are hoping this scares Israel enough to keep them from striking them. If Iran would stop making threats and play nice with her neighbors it wouldn't have much to worry about.

If Iran stops making threats then Ahmadinejad and his cronies lose all power. By recent reports they, the revolutionary guard, even have the Guardian Council and the Supreme Leader under control.

Is it me, or does it look like there's electrical tape holding the leather base of the flight stick to the plane? Also, there's no wiring for the video screen type thing on the right hand side of the cockpit, so it seems like they forgot to put any wiring in...

Lee Hutchinson / Lee is the Senior Reviews Editor at Ars and is responsible for the product news and reviews section. He also knows stuff about enterprise storage, security, and manned space flight. Lee is based in Houston, TX.